The ostriches in the Bush administration
(and the oil companies whose interests they represented) did not want
to
admit it,
but the rest of the world recognizes the reality of global warming and
the need to reduce our carbon footprint. To do this, we must
increase our supply of renewable energy.
Virtually everyone is for renewable energy, and the development of
solar, wind and hydroelectric power can and should be an international
priority. Nevertheless, it is important to realize that there are
significant problems, both environmental and economic, with the
development of such alternative energy sources, and the political
issues involved in the development are neither simple, nor
one-dimensional.

Economically, wind and solar power cost more, per kilowatt hour, then
fossil fuel technology. To be sure, if a tax was imposed for the
adverse environmental impacts of fossil fuel plants, the cost of
renewable energy would be closer to the cost of fossil fuel technology,
but it would probably still not be economically competitive.
Furthermore, wind and solar, and, for that matter, hydro, are not
always reliable: the sun does not always shine, the wind does not
always blow, and rivers are subject to seasonal variations in water
flow.

There are also environmental costs associated with hydro, solar and
wind power. Although these environmental impacts are less
serious than the adverse air pollution impacts and greenhouse gases
from fossil fuel plants and less serious than the severe adverse
consequences of nuclear power, the environmental "costs" of renewable
power are still nevertheless real. Damming rivers for
hydroelectric facilities interferes with aquatic species, can deplete
dissolved oxygen in stream levels below the dams, and may result in the
loss of a significant aesthetic resource. The manufacture of
solar panels requires a fair amount of energy and use of non-renewable
materials. Wind turbines, which can be 450 feet tall, create
serious problems with noise, strobe effects on neighbors, bird
mortality, and may have a devastating impact upon the character of the
local community, especially a community located in a scenic area which
depends on tourist revenue. As with nonrenewable energy, these
environmental costs must be weighed against the benefit of specific
projects. As a
society, we can and should place a higher value on renewable energy
than nonrenewable energy; but it should be remembered that renewable
energy, like non-renewable energy, has both environmental and economic
costs.

Thirty years ago, environmental advocates believed that renewable
energy would be best served by deregulation of the electric
industry. In an ideal deregulated environment, a family that put
up its own solar panels, backyard windmill, or other alternative energy
source, would be able to sell the energy to the grid, thus reducing
their own electric bills, and generating a social benefit. Today,
the reality is far different. For the most part, renewable energy
sources are now controlled by large corporate interests who seek to
utilize federal and state subsidies to generate power, for purely
economic benefit. Whether this power is ultimately saleable
depends, to a large extent, upon extremely esoteric bidding rules set
up by Independent System Operators, which do not necessarily provide
for environmental benefits. The developers of this energy have no
reason to care about the environmental consequences of their action:
they are simply in the business of building power generating machines,
and making as much money as possible from these machines.

Hydroelectric power,
when it operates, is inexpensive, and has relatively few adverse
environmental impacts compared to the benefits that it produces.
Peter spent two years working for the Green Island Power Authority in
connection with its efforts to develop a modern 100 MW hydroelectric
facility. The proposed facility would have been publicly owned
and would have generated power to be used for economic development for
the Capital District. The facility would have replaced the
existing 90-year-old School Street hydroelectric facility.
Ultimately, the Green Island Power Authority was defeated by a Canadian
multinational company called Brascan, which, with the active assistance
of state regulators, had been able to obtain the right to operate the
existing hydroelectric facility from its previous owner, the Niagara
Mohawk Power Corporation. As a result, the old facility will
continue to generate only 40 MW of power, which will be owned and sold
to the electric grid by Brascan for the benefit of its
shareholders. This facility, unlike the proposed Green Island
plant, will continue to kill billions of fish every year, and will
ensure that Cohoes Falls, the site where the Hardenosaunee peacemaker
established the Iroquois Confederacy, will continue to be bare rock,
rather than a flowing waterfall.

The construction of an industrial "windfarm" consisting of a row of 450
foot high structures, occupying miles of terrain, frequently along
scenic hillsides, has considerable environmental consequences.
Peter has represented community groups, in Cherry Valley and in the
Catskills, where residents have legitimate concerns about the impact of
these wind turbines. Corporate interests have wanted to site
these turbines as close as 1000 feet to neighboring residences, where
individuals will be subject to continual noise impacts, and will have
light shining through the wind turbines creating a "strobe" effect on
their homes. Individuals who have lived in a community for many
years, face the danger that
their way of life will be destroyed, for a wind turbine which may
generate only a minimal amount of saleable electricity.
Furthermore, the electricity will be sold to the grid for the benefit
of large corporate developers; it will not be used to meet the
immediate local needs for electricity, nor will the economic benefits
from the sale go to the local community. In such cases, the
relatively small amount of extra electricity from a "renewable" source
does not justify the significant local harm that may occur.

Renewable energy is a very good thing, and all true environmentalists
should support it. However, not all developers play a
positive social role, nor are all renewable energy projects
environmentally beneficial. In addition, questions arise with any
specific project as to who reaps the economic benefit from the
sale of
power, and at what cost to the general public. The issues are
complicated, and there are important questions that must be addressed
with every project.